News Clips

Quentin Turner is executive director of the group Common Cause Michigan. He said having a full House can help get through policies, like a state Voting Rights Act. “I know this is something that’s been in the works for almost a year now. Perhaps even longer. And I know that, those working on it, they have a real strong motivation to try to get this done before recess. So, I expect that there’s going to be a lot of movement on that as well,” Turner said. He said he hopes to see other bills like government accountability and voting access legislation move forward as well.

Common Cause is a group that opposes any constitutional convention. Spokesperson for the group, Viki Harrison said the rights Ward is concerned about could be on the chopping block. “Once the convention is convened there is the very real fear of a runaway convention, where delegates could bring up anything they wanted to,” Harrison said. “Anything that you could be taken away from you, whether it’s the right to vote, whether it’s the right to clean air, education for your children the right to worship the way you want to.” Harrison said there are both democrats and republicans that oppose the idea of a convention.

"For the future of our commonwealth, we must take action to ensure that our districts are drawn transparently, fairly and in a way that is representative of the people of Pennsylvania," said Philip Hensley-Robin, executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania.

Common Cause, a nonpartisan watchdog group, issued the warning Thursday in an amicus brief filed to the upcoming Supreme Court hearing that has brought special counsel Jack Smith’s election interference case to a standstill. “This Court is at serious risk of being perceived as attempting to influence the 2024 election in favor of Mr. Trump,” the group writes. “It should do everything possible now to avoid that impression, which would be highly detrimental to this Court’s reputation for neutrality and fairness. Time is of the essence.” Common Cause's 37-page brief condemns the nation’s highest court scheduling decisions they argue came to Trump’s legal rescue “against the public interest." Specifically, the group points to the Supreme Court’s speedy ruling on his 14th Amendment insurrectionist ban challenge — a ruling that allowed Trump to remain on Colorado’s ballot — and the scheduling of his presidential immunity hearing until April 25, the last day possible.

“There’s extreme public interest on what happened on that trip,” Common Cause Rhode Island Executive Director John M. Marion said, noting that one of the former state officials, David Patten, was recently fined $5,000 by the state Ethics Commission for accepting a free lunch at an upscale Sicilian restaurant during that trip. ”So great example of sort of how public records get us information that holds government officials accountable.”

Kate Titus, executive director of Common Cause Oregon, said she never bought into the assumption that legislators could do nothing about regulating campaign finances. “The question is not whether we can do anything to restrict the influence of big money. It is: Will we? I think what we have finally seen this legislative session is that we will,” Titus said. “What we passed here is not everything we need. There is still work to be done. But it is a big leap forward for Oregon.”